It's not as Easy as just Saying 20 Minutes a Day': Exploring Teacher and Principal Experiences Implementing a Provincial Physical Activity Policy

Abstract

In 2005, the Ontario Ministry of Educationimplemented the Daily Physical Activity (DPA) Policy to provide every elementary student with at least 20 minutes of sustained moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity each day. This exploratory research sought to understand the factors shaping DPA implementation in schools and classrooms, from the perspective of elementary school teachers and principals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Ontario grade 1-8 teachers (n=14) and elementary school principals (n=5) regarding DPA implementation, facilitators, barriers, perceived outcomes, and suggestions for change. The majority of participants stated that students were not meeting the requirements daily. However, participants shared activities and techniques for incorporating physical activity into instructional time. Facilitators and barriers to implementation were organized using the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework in order to identify factors acting at four environmental levels. The facilitators and barriers identified indicate that staff and resources within individual schools strongly influence implementation. Although many positive outcomes for students were identified, increased fitness was not mentioned, highlighting additional benefits above physical health. The findings suggest DPA is not being implemented as intended, as school staff are finding it difficult to meet the time and intensity requirements. Policy makers must consider the local school environment and the roles of school staff when designing school-based health policies.

A theoretical analysis of the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of school-based physical activity policies in Canada: a mixed methods scoping review

“…The search resulted in 66 articles being retrieved and 38 being excluded for not meeting the eligibility criteria. Overall, a total of 15 articles and reports met the eligibility criteria for the current review [18–20, 38–49], ten of which examined barriers and facilitators to implementation [38, 40, 41, 43–49]. Of the 15 studies that met the inclusion criteria, 11 articles evaluated the Ontario DPA policy [19, 20, 38–46], and 2 articles were from both Alberta [47, 48] and British Columbia [18, 49].…”

“…Prescriptive approaches require all children to participate during instructional time while non-prescriptive approaches provide children with more opportunities to be active during non-instructional time. The majority of elementary schools across each province adopted a prescriptive approach by increasing physical education classes during the week [18, 43, 48] or scheduling DPA activity class into the timetable [43, 47–49]. Ontario schools used some creative methods to deliver DPA during instructional time, including integrating DPA into other curriculum subjects, taking multiple smaller breaks throughout the day and allowing older students to lead DPA activities for younger classes [43].…”

“…The majority of elementary schools across each province adopted a prescriptive approach by increasing physical education classes during the week [18, 43, 48] or scheduling DPA activity class into the timetable [43, 47–49]. Ontario schools used some creative methods to deliver DPA during instructional time, including integrating DPA into other curriculum subjects, taking multiple smaller breaks throughout the day and allowing older students to lead DPA activities for younger classes [43]. Non-prescriptive approaches included providing more opportunities and access to facilities at recess and lunch breaks, without providing additional times to be active during instructional time [40, 47–49].…”

“…Similarly, to target teachers’ perception of a lack of time (i.e., ECR) and to minimize the burden that they feel about fitting DPA during the busy school day (i.e., beliefs about consequences), school boards can emphasize how DPA positively benefits children’s focus and concentration (i.e., education) or require that DPA is a part of the overall curriculum and monitor it more readily (i.e., environmental restructuring). Focusing specifically on teacher’s reported implementation barriers and perceptions will assist with policy implementation, considering that they express less support, perceive less effectiveness of, and report more barriers for DPA implementation than principals [38, 43, 48]. …”

Elementary school generalist teachers’ perceived competence to deliver Ontario’s daily physical activity program

“…He also cited the absence of specialists as well as limited to no staff training as significant barriers to the success of the SPA program. Brown and Elliott's (2015) study of teacher and principal experiences of implementing the DPA program found that the program is not being implemented as intended because staff are finding it difficult to meet the time and intensity requirements. Teacher competencies as well as school resources and environments were also identified as barriers to implementation.…”